The Dutch railway pension fund (SPF) and the public transport pension fund (SPOV) have decided to divest from the American company MOOG. PAX welcomes the decision of both pension funds to end their financial involvement in nuclear weapon producing company MOOG.

MOOG is on the list of nuclear weapon producing companies in the November 2015 Don’t Bank on the Bomb report because of Moog´s involvement in the development of launch vehicles and strategic missile controls for the Minuteman III and Trident (D5) missiles for the US nuclear arsenal.

Nadja Franssen, portfolio manager Social Responsible Investments of SPF Beheer explains: “We excluded MOOG before, until 2012, when we received confirmation that all their contracts relating to nuclear weapon production had ended. Controversial weapons is something our customers absolutely want to distance themselves from. So when MOOG was added in November 2015 to the list of nuclear weapon producing companies in Don’t Bank on the Bomb, this was reason for us to contact them.”

SPF and SPOV update their list of excluded companies once a year, based on their own research, using input from financial research company Sustainalytics, news reports, reports from NGOs and their own correspondence with companies. When new information emerges between updates, the pension funds research these allegations and gives an implicated company the chance to respond to allegations. In the case of MOOG, “correspondence with the company told us that the company is indeed involved again in nuclear weapon related contracts. For SPF and SPOV, this was enough to put the company back on our exclusion list.” said Franssen. “It was the Don’t Bank on the Bomb report that led to our decision to contact MOOG and hear their side of the story. Our final decision to exclude the company is based on the answers that we got from MOOG.”

PAX commends SPF and SPOV for this decision. Wilbert van der Zeijden, one of the Don’t Bank on the Bomb 2015 report authors: “The exclusion policies of the two pension funds have been exemplary for years now, but the involvement in MOOG kept them out of our report’s Hall of Fame in 2015. So we hope that this year we can welcome them into our Hall of Fame. We’re happy that our report has contributed to this decision and we urge other financial institutions to similarly reassess their involvement in MOOG and other nuclear weapon producing companies.”

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Wilbert is a political scientist working for the PAX Security and Disarmament team since 2010 as researcher and campaigner. He primarily focusses on and frequently publishes and speaks about nuclear disarmament, European security, toxic remnants of war, international military infrasctructure and nuclear weapon free zones.

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ABOUT THIS PROJECT

Don't Bank on the Bomb identifies both financial institutions that invest heavily in companies involved in nuclear weapon programmes and those that have policies limiting or prohibiting such investments.